E-mail this article

To:

Invalid E-mail address

Add a personal message:(80
character limit)Your E-mail:

Invalid E-mail address

Sending your article

In this month’s #LabDebates, Boston's mayoral candidates answeredourquestions about everything from crime and education policy to Happy Hour, trash pickup, and, of course, cage fighting. But we didn't have time to address every issue, even in a lightning round. So with just over a month before Election Day, we're continuing our series of questions for the candidates, to get them on the record about issues large and small.

This week, we asked the candidates whether they support the distribution of condoms in Boston public schools -- something the School Committee voted to do earlier this summer, pairing the handouts with safe sex counseling in Boston's 32 high schools. Here's what they said, in the order responses were received.

Yes. It is important that we use every tool we have to prevent pregnancy, STIs and STDs. Study after study has shown that condom availability increases use among sexually active teens, but does not cause them to initiate sex or have sex with more partners. Any condom distribution program should include an age-appropriate and medically accurate education component as well.

I support the distribution of condoms in Boston public schools as long as it is coupled with sex education classes. We know that many students are sexually active, and we must be realistic and do our best to encourage safe sexual activity. I co-founded and am president of Codman Academy Charter Public School, which has partnered with Codman Square Health Center to provide access to contraception, and Codman Academy is the first school I know of to require Sexual Education Competency as a prerequisite for graduation. Other high schools should follow suit.

Yes. I worked with Councilor Ayanna Pressley to push for a comprehensive wellness policy for the Boston Public Schools. Ideally, parents should be the primary sex and health educators for their children. Unfortunately, many of our students face situations where they will not receive any reliable sex or health education from a parent or any adult in their life. Our pregnant and parenting teens are one of our most high-risk groups to drop out. When a pregnant teen or a parenting mother or father drops out, she or he puts the lowest ceiling possible on their future and their child's future. We need to do everything possible to help our young people stay in school and pursue pathways of opportunity. Making condoms available in school should be part of a broader strategy to prevent dropping out, and to make sure every student is healthy.

Preventing teen pregnancy needs to be a priority for the next Mayor. There is nothing that will so dramatically raise the likelihood of a life of poverty and other social risks for mother and child than becoming a teen mom. As Mayor I intend to approach this issue comprehensively and with real urgency. It would include (but not be limited to) comprehensive, age appropriate sex education, access to condoms in our schools, and a broad-based public health and education campaign aimed at young people. This campaign would highlight the pronounced risks associated with teen pregnancy, but would also encourage young men and women to make smart choices and treat one another with respect and responsibility.

I support the decision that the Boston School Committee made earlier this year to distribute condoms to high school students within the context of a broader "wellness" policy. Given that a significant number of BPS students report being sexually active, providing developmentally appropriate sexual and reproductive health education, as well as counseling services within a supportive school environment, contributes to the health of and good decision-making by students. This policy allows parents to exempt their children from receiving condoms by notifying the schools. This condom policy illuminates the larger role that schools need to play beyond academic achievement. They must also address the social, emotional, and physical health of students.

A recently passed policy will allow the distribution of condoms in all 32 Boston public high schools. High school students who want condoms may get them, along with appropriate health education and counseling services. Parents and legal guardians may exempt their children from receiving condoms simply by notifying the school when they submit the family information forms at the beginning of every school year. I support the policy and believe it should remain as it stands.

I support making condoms available in schools but that's not enough -- we need a broader range of health services available to our students. I support expanding school-based health centers to all schools. School-based health centers not only distribute condoms and provide sexual health counseling, but also provide a first line of defense against the medical and social health problems that can keep kids from succeeding at school. Partnerships with our community health centers, medical schools, and hospitals can make this expansion a reality and partnerships like these make our schools and our community stronger.

This blog is not written or edited by Boston.com or the Boston Globe.
The author is solely responsible for the content.

About Boston.comment

Boston.comment is an exchange for ideas about Boston and beyond, brought to you by the Boston Globe editorial page and edited by Globe columnist Joanna Weiss. We're the sponsor of Boston.com's #LabDebates and the creator of the Choose Your Own Adventure mayoral game.

Our producer is Alex Pearlman, with contributions (and sea monsters) from Noah Guiney.
To join the conversation, post a comment, tweet with our daily hashtag, or follow us on Twitter @BostonComment.

A note on comments: Be honest, be open, be polite. And be warned: Personal attacks will be removed.